I have dreamed of running a half marathon. I thought it would be such a major accomplishment and something that I thought would challenge me physically and mentally. Last January 2015, I made a commitment to start training for my first half marathon, as I had previously run 5ks. I did not sign up for a run or anything, I just started training, by following Hal Higdon’s plan. Halfway through my training, I realized that without signing up for anything the motivation could easily go away. With about 7 weeks or so to go before Wisconsin’s Cheesiest Half Marathon, which was the first weekend in May, I signed up for one after being inspired watching my Wisconsin Badgers make a deep NCAA tournament run and how hard those kids had worked to achieve what they were achieving. So, I was signed up, my training was rejuvenated and I was ready to go. I had a lot of rookie mistakes through training and running my first half marathon, 13.1 miles, and things that I will be sure to correct and be better at the second time around. Here are my lessons learned. Read more